A US fund managed by healthcare real estate investment trust Ventas has acquired a life science portfolio for $1bn (€846m) from Bain Capital Real Estate and Phase 3 Real Estate Partners.

Ventas said its Life Science and Healthcare Real Estate Fund, has bought the Genesis South San Francisco, in a deal which more than doubles the fund’s managed assets to $1.8bn (€1.5bn).

The fund, a perpetual life vehicle, targets investments in core and core-plus life science, medical office and senior housing real estate in North America.

Debra A Cafaro, Ventas chairman and CEO, said: “We are pleased to further expand our growing research and innovation footprint into the premier South San Francisco life science cluster with the acquisition of this outstanding lab portfolio.

“Strong and growing capital flows into the life science sector are accelerating innovation and discovery. These flows support the demand for first-class lab space in dynamic markets like South San Francisco.”

Cafaro said Ventas now owns or has an investment in over 7m sqft of research and innovation properties located in the life science clusters of Cambridge, South San Francisco, and on the campuses of over 15 top tier research universities.

She said the fund has raised more than $1bn of equity, with continued capacity to grow, and more than doubled its assets under management to $1.8bn.

”The growth of the fund is a testament to the tremendous market opportunity across the healthcare sectors of life science, medical office and senior housing real estate,” Cafaro said.

In 2015, Bain Capital and Phase 3 acquired two office buildings and development site through two transactions and proceeded to create the Genesis platform.

Joe Marconi, MD at Bain Capital Real Estate, said: “The Genesis platform Bain Capital Real Estate created six years ago in conjunction with Phase 3 continues to demonstrate the power of our customer-centric investment philosophy whereby we serve as a true partner to our tenants with an intense focus on accelerating their success.

“Our team’s extensive experience in office to lab conversions enabled us to capture the value of the overlooked office project and transform it into a state-of-the-art campus that attracted a high-quality tenant base.”

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